Paper feeders for presses



c. F. DESLAURIERS ETAL 3,006,276

Oct. 31, 1961 PAPER FEEDERS FOR PRESSES Filed Feb. 29, 1960 9Sheets-Sheet 1 ITI INVENTORS W. A.S HIE L DS BY C F. DESLAURIERS ATTORNEOct. 31, 1961 c. F. DESLAURIERS Er AL 3,006,276

` PAPER FEEDERS EOE PRESSES 9 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 29, 1960 NN. f1% wv ox\ .Q L J v EL vv mm w 8/ n mw Nw n@ $8 fm S SR MDE OLR TEU N NMAESL v a mAb m WF. C Y B N .QE

Y Oct. 31, 1961 c. F. DESLAURIERS Erm. 3,006,276

PAPER FEEDERS FOR PRESSES Filed Feb. 29, 1960 9 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORSW. A. SHIELDS Y C.'F.DESLA URIERS Oct. 31, 1961 Ac. F.1DEsLAUR1ERs ETAL3,006,276

- PAPER FEEDERS FOR PRESSES Filed Feb. 29, 1960 9 SheelZS-Sheel'l '4INVENTORS w. A .sHlEL Ds BY c. P oEsL AuRm- Rs La a. 741/ ATTORNEY Oct.31, 1961 c. F. DESLAURIERS ETAL PAPER FEEDERs FOR PRESSES 9 Sheets-Sheet'5 Filed Feb. 29, 1960 f I :un

INVENTORS w. A .l sHlEL Ds 5244/ ATTORNEY 9 Sheets-Sheet 4(5 s R SSE@www/ ma. im v550/ m mAD wf. A C Y B Oct. 31, 1961 c. F. DEsLAURn-:RsETAL PAPER PEEDERS FOR PRESSES Filed Feb. 29, 1960 OCR 31, 1961 c. F.DESLAURIERS E1' AL 3,006,276

PAPER FEEDERS FOR PRESSES 9 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed Feb. 29, 1960 lNvENToRsw. A SHIEL DS C FDESLAURIERS BY ATTORNE Oct. 31, 1961 c. F. DEsLAURu-:RsEr AL 3,006,276

PAPER FEEDERS FOR PRESSES Filed Feb. 29, 1960 9 Sheets-Sheet 8 Oct. 31,1961 c. F. DEsLAURlERs ErAL PAPER FEEDERS FOR PRESSES 9 Sheets-Sheet 9Filed Feb. 29, 1960 United States Patent O 3,006,276 PAPER FEEDERS FORPRESSES Clovis F. Deslauriers, 310 W. 73rd St., New York, and

Walter A. Shields, Jamaica, N.Y.; said Shields assignor to saidDeslauriers Filed Feb. 29, 1960, Ser. No. 11,774 12 Claims. (Cl.101-279) This invention relates to paper feeders for presses andparticularly to feeding corrugated paperboard to a press having areciprocating bed arranged with a die and/or printing form and a rollerrotating above and cooperating with the bed die to score and cut and/ orprint the paperboard fed to the roller.

It is an object of the invention to provide a feeder which adjustsitself to the paper sheets which vary not only in size, weight andthickness but vary from each other in that many sheets are curled andwarped.

It is another object of the invention to automatically operate thefeeder by the reciprocatory movement of the press bed which facilitatesadjusting the press and feeder with a full paper hopper without causingthe feeding of a sheet and facilitates freeing of a jammed sheet.

It is another object of the invention to reduce the number of movingparts whereby the feeder cannot be easily damaged.

It is another object of the invention to provide a kicker bar which willnot be damaged if rear guide members of the paper hopper are set tooclose to the kicker bar.

It is another object of the invention to provide a kicker bar which doesnot require skilled personnel to adjust the press to a specific positionbefore adjusting the kicker bar to feed a desired size of paper sheets.

It is a further object of the invention to provide the feeder withexible delivering members automatically adjusted to desired positionsduring the delivering of a sheet from the kicker bar to the press rollerwhereby the proper feeding of curled or warped sheets is assured.

A further object of the invention is to provide guide members for thepaper hopper which are readily adjusted and secured in adjustedpositions.

Another further object of the invention is to provide stop membersarranged with resilient fingers and a side register buler mechanism foradapting the feeder to accurately feed paper sheets of less width thanthe maximum width handled by the feeder.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in thedetailed description of the invention.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this application:

FIGURE 1 is a side view of our paper feeder mounted on a press;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the paper feeder looking from the line 2 2 ofFIGURE 1 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is a rear view of the feeder looking from the line 3 3 ofFIGURE l in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 3 looking in the direction of the arrows and showing a stackof paper sheets supported in a hopper with the kicker bar in itsrearmost position;

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 4 showing the kicker bar in anadvanced feeding position;

FIGURE 5a is a fragmentary sectional view of a modified form of kickerbar and rear guide members;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 66 of FIGURE 2 looking in the direction of the arrows and showing theflexible delivering members positioned to receive a paper sheet from thekicker bar;

ICC

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 6 showing the exible deliveringmembers positioned to deliver the paper sheet to the press roller;

FIGURE 8 is a front view, on an enlarged scale, looking in the directionof the arrows from the line 8 8 of FIGURE 1 to show the adjustablemounting of front and side guide members of the hopper;

FIGURE 9 is a sectional view taken on the line 9 9 of FIGURE 8 lookingin the direction of the arrows to show the adjustable mounting of afront guide member;

FIGURE 10 is a sectional view taken on the line 10-10 of FIGURE 9looking in the direction of the arrows to show the vertical adjustablemounting of the front guide member;

FIGURE 11 is a sectional view taken on the line 11 11 of FIGURE 8looking in the direction of the arrows to show the adjustable mountingof a side guide member;

FIGURE 12 is a rear view, on an enlarged scale, looking from the line12-12 of FIGURE 1 in the direction of the arrows to show adjusting meansfor the flexible delivering members and for paper stop memberspositioned at the delivery end of the ilexible delivering members;

FIGURE 13 is a side view of the adjusting means shown in FIGURE 12;

FIGURE 14 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line14 14 of FIGURE 4 looking in the direction of the arrows to show anadjustable mounting of the kicker bar and means to retain a rear guidemember of the hopper in adjusted position with one side of the hopper,kick-er bar and rear guide member broken away;

FIGURE l5 is a sectional view taken on the line 15-15 of FIGURE 14looking in the direction of the arrows to show the adjustable mountingof the kicker bar;

FIGURE 16 is a top view of a resilient linger mounted on the kicker barfor engaging the lowermost paper sheet in a stack of paper sheets in thehopper;

FIGURE 17 is a fragmentary plan view of the delivery end portions of theilexible delivering members and the press roller showing the paper stopmembers arranged with resilient lingers and a side register buffermechanism to adapt the feeder for small size paper sheets;

FIGURE 18 is a side view of the buffer mechanism looking from the line18-18 of FIGURE 17 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 19 is a fragmentary side view, on an enlarged scale, of a paperstop member and a resilient linger relative to the press roller;

FIGURE 20 is a rear view, on an enlarged scale, of the buffer mechanismlooking from the line 20 20 of FIGURE 19 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 2l is a side view of the bulfer mechanism looking at the righthand side of FIGURE 20;

FIGURE 22 is a view similar to FIGURE 19 showing the paper sheet beingengaged by the press roller lingers ang the ilexing of the resilientlinger by said engagement; an

FIGURE 23 is a cross sectional view of the buffer mechanisrn taken onthe line 23-23 of FIGURE 20 looking in the direction of the arrows. I

The invention is illustrated in association with a press used forscoring and cutting sheets of corrugated paperboard in a predeterminedarrangement to form a carton or box and in some instances printing onsaid corrugated paperboard simultaneously with the scoring and cuttingoperation. Only the paper feeding end portion of the press is shown andincludes a frame 17 reciprocally supporting ra bed 18 on a horizontalplane below a roller 19 rotatably supported between vertically spacedstandards 20 of the frame 17 by a power driven shaft 21 extendingtransversely of the bed 18, as shown in FIGURE l. The bed 18 is arrangedto carry a die form 22 to be reciprocated below the roller 19 in contactwith a corrugated paperboard sheet being moved by theroller. Themechanisms for reciprocating the bed and rotating the roller have beenomitted as they do not form a part of the invention. The reciprocatorymovement of the bed 18 is cushioned by a pair of aircushion cylinders 23mounted on each end of the frame 17 and a corresponding pair of pistons24 carried by the opposite ends of the bed 18 to enter the correspondingcylinders 23 as the bed approaches said cylinders. There are shown onlythe pair of aircushion cylinders 23 at the rear of the frame 17 whichcushion the retrograde movement of the bed 18. A corrugated paperboardsheet is moved by the roller 19 by the rotation of the roller and byhaving the forward end portion of said sheet gripped by a row of spacediingers 24','FIGURES 7 and 22, pivoted within the roller and extendedthrough an opening 25 in the roller to grip the sheet against an edge ofsaid opening 25.

The embodiment of the invention includes a hopper for supporting lastack of corrugated paperboard comprising a bed 26 supported from theframe 17 by a pair of -braces 27 xed at the bottom to a base of theframe 17 and iixed at the top to the rear end of the bed 26 and a pairof braces 28 xed at the bottom to the top of the frame 17 Vand at thetop to the front end of the bed 26. The braces 27 and 28 extend from the`frame 17 at diverging angles and the upper ends of the braces 28terminate in a lower horizontal plane than the yupper ends of the braces27 so that the hopper bed 26 will decline from the braces 27 to thebraces 28 at an angle to the press bed 18, as shown in FIGURE 1. Thecorrugated paperboard sheets, as shown at s in FIGURES 4, 5, a, 6 and 7,are retained in vertical alignment on the hopper bed 26 by front guidemembers 29, side guide'membe'rs 30 and rear guide members 31. The frontguide members 29 and the side guide members 30 are adjustably supportedby a slide-bar 32 supported at the ends from the braces 28 by standards33 with the slide-bar extending transversely above the front end of thehopper bed. The front guide members 29 are in the -form of two verticalstrips, each strip having a pair of spaced guideway members 34 iixedthereto for the sliding engagement of a bracket 35 having the lowerportion slidably mounted on the slide-bar 32, as at 36, and a Alateralextension 37 -at the upper end of the bracket 35. The front guide member29 is adjustably connected to the bracket 35 by an adjustment screw 38rotatably supported in a lateral extension 39 of the fro-nt guide memberand engaged in a screw-threaded opening in the lateral extension 37whereby turning the screw 38 in one direction will raise the front guidemember 29 and the turning of the screw 38 in the opposite direction willlower the front guide member 29. The bracket 35 is retained in adjustedposition on the slide-bar 32 by yan abutment screw 40 adjustably mountedin the sliding portion 36 to abut Vthe slide-bar 32, as shown in FIGURES8 and 9. The

iront guide members 29 are adjusted by the screws 38 t0 position thelower edges of the front guide members 29 a distance above the hopperbed 26 slightly greater than the thicknesses of the sheets of corrugatedpaperboard supported by the hopper bed 26 to permit feeding of theVlowermost sheet from the hopper bed 26. The sliding adjustment of thebrackets 35 on the slide-bar 32 permits the proper guiding of sheets ofcorrugated paperboard of different widths.

The side guide ymembers 30 are in the form of two vertical strips, eachstrip having an angle member 41 attached to said strip and to a slider42 slidable on the slidebar 32 and having an abutment screw 43 to abutthe slidebar and retain the slider 42 and the side guide member 30 inadjusted position. The sliding 4adjustment of the sliders 42 will movethe side guide members toward and away from each other to accommodatecorrugated paperboard of different widths.

The rear guide members 31 are in the form of quadrilaterals havingparallel top and bottom portions 44, 45, respectively, and rear andfront portions 46, 47, respectively, converging from the bottom portion45 with the rear portion 46 extending from the bottom portion 45 at amore acute angle than the front portion 47, as shown in FIG- URES l, 4and 5. In the present illustration of the invention, there are shownfour guide members 31 but the number c-an be varied depending on thesize of the feeder and the type of paper being fed. The guide members 31are spaced along a bar 48 with said guide members xed to the bar at thebottom portions 45 adjacent to the front portions 47 and the rearportions of the guide members 31 supported by a foot 49 attached to eachbottom portion 45 ladjacent to each rear portion 46, as shown in FIGURESl, 3, 4 and 5. The bar 48 and feet 49 are slidably supported on thehopper bed 26 with the opposite ends of the bar lterminating at theopposite sides of the bed 26. The bar 48 is adjusted toward and awayfrom the front and side guide members 29 and 30, respectively, toaccommodate sheets s of dilferent lengths. Due to the inclination of thefront portions 47 of the guide members 31, the rear edges of thelowermost sheets are engaged by said portions 47 with the rear edges ofthe uppermost sheets gradually spaced from said portions 47 with thefront edges of the sheets above the lowermost sheet abutting the frontguide members 29, as shown in FIG- URES 4 and 5, so that the sheets Willextend in a plane converging with the plane of the hopper bed 26 at therear of the front guide members 29 for a purpose to be describedhereinafter. The lowermost sheet will be in register with the spacebetween the hopper bed and the bottom edges of the front guide members29. The rear guide member bar 48 is retained in adjusted position byclamping members comprising a hand lever 50 pivoted on a bracket 51 xedto each end of the bar 48 and the lever 50 connected by a pair of links52 to an arm 53 pivoted on the bracket 51 and having an adjustableabutment 54 to engage a side member of a supporting frame 55 of thehopper bed 26, as shown in FIGURES 1, 2, 3 and 14.

During the reciprocation of the press bed 18 toward the press roller 19,the lowermost sheet s on the hopper bed 26 is lfed below the front guidemembers 29V by a kicker bar 56 supported to reciprocate in a planeparallel to and above the hopper bed 26 by a plate 57 slidably mountedbelow the hopper bed 26 by rod bearings V58 mounted at the opposite endsin supporting members 59 fixed to the front and rear members of theframe 55, as shown in FIGURES l, 3, 4, 5, 8, 14 and l5. The plate 57 issupported on the bearings 58 by journals 60 fixed to the bottom of theplate 57 and slidable on the bearings 58.` The kicker bar 56 isadjustably supported on the plate 57 by a pair of channeled guideways 61fixed to the top of the plate 57 and having opposed flanges 62 at thetop of the channel. The top portion of each guideway 61V extends in aslot 63 of a pair of parallel slots extending from the rear edge andspaced from the front edge of the hopper bed, as shown in FIGURE 2. Aclamping member 64 is slidable in each guideway 61 and is provided witha Vertical projection 65 to extend between and above the anges 62. Thekicker bar 56 is releasably connected to each vertical projection 65 bya screw 66 rotatable in the kicker bar and screw-threaded in eachclamping member 64 whereby the loosening of the screws 66 will permitadjustment of the clamping members 64 and kicker bar 56 in the guidemembers 61 and the tightening of the screws 66 will draw the clampingmembers 64 against the anges 62 and draw the projections 65 against thekicker bar 56, as shown in FIGURE 14.

The kicker bar 56 is provided with spaced fingers 67 vof resilientmaterial, such as spring steel, each finger having one end bent to rightangle shape and secured to the ont of the kicker bar 56, as shown at 68in FIG- URES 15 and 16, with the major portion of the nger bent at anobtuse angle to the right angled portion 68 and extended rearwardly overthe kicker bar 56. The free end of each nger 67 is provided with anabutment member 69 xed to the upper surface of the finger with theforward edge of the abutment member serrated, as at 70 in FIGURE 16, andthe rear edge portion curved downwardly, as at 71 in FIGURE l5, tofacilitate the retrograde movement of the kicker bar 56 below the stackof sheets s on the hopper bed 26. The diverging position of the stack ofsheets s will also facilitate the retrograde movement of the kicker bar56. The serrated edges 70 of the resilient ngers 67 will assure the firmengagement of the rear edge of the lowermost sheet s on the hopper bed26, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 5.

The kicker bar 56 is reciprocated by the movement of the press bed 18through the air pressure in the aircushion cylinders 23. This isaccomplished by a twoway air cylinder 72 mounted on the rear portion ofthe frame 55 and the front end of the cylinder 72 is connected by a hose73 in air communication with the aircushion cylinders 23 mounted at therear end of the frame 17, as shown in FIGURES l and 3, and the rear endof the cylinder 72 is connected by a hose 74 in air communication withthe aircushion cylinders 23 mounted at the front of the frame 17. Apiston 75, FIGURE 4, is carried by a bracket 76 iixed to the bottom ofthe plate 57 and the piston 75 is mounted in the two-way air cylinder 72whereby the forward movement of the press bed 18 toward the press roller19 will create air pressure in the cylinders 23 at the front of theframe 17 and force said air pressure into the rear end of the two-wayair cylinder 72 which will force the piston 75 to the front of thetwo-way air cylinder 72 and actuate the kicker bar 56 toward the frontand side guide members 29 and 30, respectively, to engage the abutmentmembers 69 w-ith the rear edge of the lowermost sheet and move saidsheet under the front guide members 29. The retrograde movement of thepress bed 18 away from the press roller 19 will create air pressure inthe aircushion cylinders 23 at the rear of the press frame 17 and causethe delivery of said air pressure to the front end of the two-way aircylinder 72 and the actuation of the piston 75 to the rear of thetwo-way air cylinder and of the kicker bar 56 toward the rear guidemembers 31 to position the abutment members 69 behind the rear edge ofthe lowermost sheet in the stack. The kicker bar 56 is urged toward therear guide member bar 48 by a spring 77 anchored at one end to the rearportion of the frame 55 and the opposite end of the spring 77 isconnected to a post 78 extended from the bottom of the plate 57, asshown in FIGURES 4, 5 and 14. The reciprocatory movements of the plate57 are limited by said plate abutting the supporting members 59, asshown in FIGURES 4 and 5.

FIGURE 5a shows a modified form of kicker bar and rear guide members.Said modified kicker bar comprises a bar 138 of greater `width than vthebar 56 but of approximately the length of the kicker bar 56, as shown inFIGURE 2. The lbar 138 is provided with the bevelled-faced recesses 139and 140 in the opposite edge portions, the recess 139 being deeper thanthe recess 140 to accommodate paper sheets of greater thickness. The-bar 138 is adjustably connected to the plate 57 by the guideways 61,the clamping members 64 and the screws 66 in the same manner as thekicker bar 56. The modied rear guide members comprise a U-shaped barhaving leg portions 141 resting on the opposite side portions of thehopper bed 26 with a connecting portion 142 extending in a plane abovethe path of movement of the kicker bar 138. The rear guide bar 141, 142Iis provided with vertical guide members 143 having laterally extendingears 144 secured to equidistantly ,spaced portions of the bar portion142 .to engage the rear edges of the paper sheets s and abut the frontedges of v,the paper sheets against the front guide members 29,. The

rear guide bar 141, 142 is retained in adjusted position on the hopperbed 26 in the same manner as the rear guide bar 48 by the clampingmembers 50-54 mounted on the leg portions 141 of said rear guide bar141, 142. To feed paper sheets of greater thickness than that shown inFIGURE 5a, the screws 66 are removed from the kicker bar 138 and theclamping members 64 and the position of the kicker bar 138 is reversedto position the recess 139 to engage the rear edge portion of thelowermost paper sheet s on the hopper bed 26. After reversing the kickerbar 138, the screws 66 are replaced in openings 145 in the kicker bar13-8 adjacent to the recess 139.

The forward edge portion of the lowermost sheet s after it passes belowthe front guide members 29 is engaged by means to deliver said sheet toa position to be engaged by the fingers 24' of the press roller 19. Saidmeans comprises two series of endless belts 79 and 80, the series ofbelts 79 being superposed to the series of belts `80. 'I'he upper seriesof belts 79 are supported by rollers 81 and l82 secured to spacedportions of the shafts 83 and 84, respectively. The opposite ends of theshaft 83 are rotatable in bearings 85 pivotally mounted on the standards33, as shown at 86 in FIGURES 1, 2, 4 and 5. The opposite ends of theshaft 84 are rotatably supported in bearings 87 xed on one end of armsl88 having the opposite ends rotatable on the shaft 83 adjacent to thebearings 85. The lower series of belts are supported by rollers 89 and90 secured to spaced portions of shafts 91 and 92, respectively. Theopposite ends of the shaft 91 are rotatable in bearings 93 supported onthe braces 28. The opposite ends of the shaft 92 are rotatable inbearings 94 supported by the press frame 17. By the pivotal mountings ofthe rollers 81 and 812, the opposite end portions of the upper series ofbelts 79 are individually adjustable toward and away from thecorresponding end portions of the lower series of belts 80. The rollers81, 82, 89 and 90 are equidistantly spaced from each other on therespective shafts 83, 84, 91 and 92. The rollers 81 and 89 are of thesame diameter, and the rollers 82 and 90 are of the same diameter andsmaller than the diameters of the rollers 81 and 89 so that the upperand lower stretches of each series of belts 79 and 80 converge from therollers 81 and 89 to the rollers 82 and 90, as shown in FIGURES l, 6 and7.

During the entire feeding operation, the belts 79 and 80 arecontinuously actuated to travel in the same direction by an electricmotor 95 mounted on one of the braces 28, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2,and connected by a belt -96 to one end of the shaft 91 so that the lowerseries of belts 80 are driven directly from the motor 95. The shaft 91is operatively connected to the shaft 83 by meshing gears 97 fixed onsaid shafts 91 and 83 and having their teeth more deeply cut than usualto assure engagement with one another in all adjusted positions of theshaft 83, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 5. As shown by the arrows in FIGURE6, the shafts 83 and 91 are rotated in opposite directions so that thelower stretches of the belts 79 -will travel in the same direction asthe upper stretches of the belts 80.

The shaft 83 is adjusted toward and away from the shaft 91 by a cam disk98 secured on a shaft 99 rotatably supported in the press frame 17 androtated by the mechanisms of the press, not shown. A cam follower 100 isrotatable on one end of an arm 101 pivoted on a stud 102 extended fromthe press frame 17, so that the follower 100 will engage the cam disk98, as shown in FIG- URES l, 12, and 13. An intermediate portion of thearm 101 is pivotally connected to one end of a link 103 having theopposite end pivotally connected to a doublearm crank 104 secured on oneend of a shaft 105 rotatably supported on opposite side members oftheprfs frame 17 so that the shaft 105 is extended transversely of theframe 17. The crank 104 is pivotally connected to one end of a rod 106having the opposite end pivotally connected to one of the bearings 85,as shown at 107 in FIGURES 1 and 2. The opposite end of the shaft 105 isarranged with a single arm crank 108 pivoted to the lower end of a rod109 having its upper end pivoted to the other bearing 85, as shown at110 in FIGURES 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7. The follower 100 is urged intoengagement with the disk 98 by springs 111 anchored to the press frame17 and connected to the connections 107 and 110. The shaft 84 isadjusted toward and away yfrom the shaft 92 by a cam disk 112 secured tothe shaft 99 and engaged by a follower 113 rotatable on an intermediateportion of an arm 114 rotatable at one end on the stud 102 and theopposite end of said arm 114 pivoted to one end of a link-115 having theopposite end pivoted to one arm of a double-arm crank 116 secured to oneend of a shaft 117 rotatably supported at both end portions on the pressframe 17. The other arm of the crank 116 is pivotally connected to oneend of a rod 118 having the other end pivotally connected at 119 toY oneof the arms 88 adjacent to one of the bearings 87. 'Ihe other end ofthe` sha-ft 117 is providedwith a single arm crank 120 pivotallyconnected to arod 121 pivotally connected to the other arm 88 adjacentto the other bearing 87, as shown at 122 in FIGURES 6 and 7. 'IThe-follower 113 is urged into engagement with the disk 112 by springs 123anchored to the press frame 17 and connected to the connections 119 and122.

The cam disks 98 and 112 are arranged as shown in FIGURES 1, 12 and 13,whereby the high portion of the Ycam disk 98 will engage the follower100 and raise the rollers 81 from the rollers 89 to position theadjacent portions of the lower stretches of the belts 79 in spacedrelation to the corresponding portions of the upper stretches of thebelts 80 to receive the forward edge portion of the lowermost sheet sbeing advanced below the front guide members 29 by the finger abutments69, or either of the recesses 139 or 140, as shown in FIGURE 6. Whensaid sheet s has been advanced by the belts 79, 80 to a point Where theforward edge portion of the sheet s approaches the press roller 19, thehigh portion of the cam disk 112 will engage the lfollower 113 raisingthe rollers 82 from the rollers 90 whereby the lower stretches of thebelts 79 will be out of contact with the sheets, as shown in FIGURE 7.The raising of the opposite portions of the belts 79 facilitates thehandling of curled facilitates the engagement of the forward edgeportion of the sheet s' by the fingers 24 of the press roller 19.

When the high portion of the cam disk 98 engages the follower 100, thelow portion of the cam disk 112 will engage the follower 113, and whenthe high portion of the cam disk 112 engages the follower 113, the lowportion of the cam disk 98 will engage the follower 100. As shown inFIGURES 6, 7 and 13, the high portion of the cam disk 112 is of greaterextent than the high portion of the cam disk 98 so that the rollers 82will be raised to a greater distance and for a longer period of timethan the rollers 81.

The forward portion of the sheet s is held in the declining angle of thehopper bed 26 and the upper stretches of the lower belts 80 to beengaged by the fingers 24 of the press roller 19. This Vis iaccomplishedby a pair f stop members 124, each member adjustably mounted `on abracket 125 adjustable ona shaft 126 rotatably supported at the oppositeends in bearings 127 mounted on the press frame 17, as shown in FIGURES1 and 2.

` Side guides 128 are secured on the shaft 126 and a transverse guide'roller 129 is supported by the side guides 128, as shown in FIGURES 6and 7, to center the sheet relative to the press roller 19. The stopmembers 124 and the side guides 128 are adjusted to extend in the planeof the hopper bed 26 and the upper stretches of the lower belts 80 whenthe rollers 82 are positioned adja- Ycent to the rollers 90 and the stopmembers 124 and side guides 128 are adjusted to extend at 4a vdecliningangle from the plane of the hopper bed 26 and the upper stretches of thelower belts when the rollers 82 are spaced from the rollers 90. This isaccomplished by a cam disk 130 secured on the shaft 99 and engaged by afollower 131 rotatable on a forked end 132 of a rod 133 having theopposite end pivoted to a sleeve 134 adjustably mounted on a rod 135secured to the shaft 126. The forked end 132 straddles the shaft 99, asshown in FIG- URES l, 12 and 13. VThe follower 131 is urged intoengagement with the disk 130 by a spring 136 anchored to the press frame17 and connected to a projection 137 fixed to the shaft 126. The shaft99 is rotated in synchronism with the rotation of the press roller 19 sothat the cams 98, 112, 130 yadjust the rollers 81, 82 and the stopmembers 4124 in unison with the positioning of the lingers 24 intoengagement with the forward edge portion of the sheet s. Y

To accommodate paper sheets s of less width than the width of the feederas shown in FIGURES 17 to 23, inclusive, there are provided stop members146 similar to the stop members 124 but said stop members 146 are fixedto or integral with brackets 147 adjustably mounted on the shaft 126, sothat the stop members 146 are adjusted in the same manner as the stopmembers 124 by the cam disk 130 and follower 131, The sheet s is frie-Itionally retained on the stop members 147 by resilient fingers 148,such as spring steel, carried by brackets 149 adjustably mounted on ashaft 150 secured at the opposite ends in brackets 151 mounted on thestandards 20. The brackets 147 and 149 are adjusted on the shafts 126and 150, respectively, so that the resilient fingers 148 will extendlongitudinally of the stop members 146 with the paper sheet s fedbetween the stop members 146 and the resilient ngers 148, as shown inFIGURE 19. Each pair of stop member and resilient finger is adjustedalong the shafts in spaced relation to adjacent pairs of stop membersand resilient fingers, the spaces between the pairs of stop members andresilient fingers depending on the Iwidth of the paper sheets being fed.When the iinygers 24 of the press roller 19 engage the paper sheet s,the fingers 148 will be flexed, as shown in FIGURE 22. For the purposeof illustration, there are shown four stop members 146 and resilientfingers 148 which are adjusted on the shafts 126 and 150, respectively,to engage a paper sheet having a width of approximately twothirds of themaximum width handled by the feeder shown. In FIGURES 1, 2, 6 and 7,there are shown only two stop members 124, and it is understood that thenumber of stop members 124 may be increased according to the type ofpaper sheets being handled. T o maintain the paper sheet centrally ofthe stop members 146 and the resilient fingers 148, there is provided aside register buffer mechanism comprising a plate 152 having the rearedge portion curved outwardly, as at 153, to facilitate the forwardmovement of the paper sheet s. Said plate 152 is secured to a rod 154slidably supported in bearings 155 adjustably suspended from the shaft150. The plate 152 is reciprocated toward and away from a side edge ofthe paper sheet to properly position said paper sheet between the stopmembers 146 and the resilient fingers 148 by the vertical movement ofthe press roller 19. The press roller 19 is moved in a vertical planetoward the press bed 18 during the forward movement of said press bed toapply pressure to the paper sheet rtraveling with the press bed androller for scoring and cutting said paper sheet. To accomplish this, theopposite ends of the roller shaft 21 are rotatably supported in bearings156 slidably supported in the standards 20 and yieldingly urged to theiruppermost position by springs 157, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 18.Downward movement is imparted to the bearings 156 and the press roller19 by mechanism associated with the press mechanismfor reciprocating thebed 18 and does not form a part of this invention. The downv'wardmovement of the press roller 19 moves the plate A152 of the buifermechanism toward the paper sheet s through a bell-crank 158 pivotallymounted on an extension 159 of one of the brackets 151 on the pressstandards 20 and having an arm pivotally connected to a bifurcatedportion 160 of a sleeve 161 adjustably mounted on the rod 154. The otherarm of the bellcrank 158 is arranged with a slot 162 for the adjustablemounting of a pivot 163 carried by one end of a link 164 pivotallysupported at the opposite end on a bracket 165 mounted on one of thesliding bearings 156. 'I'he movement of vthe plate 152 of the buffermechanism caused by the downward movement of the press roller 19 willadjust the paper sheet s laterally between the stop members 146 and theresilient fingers 148, as shown in dotted lines in FIGURES 17 and 20.The resiliency of the iingers 148 permits the paper sheet to slidebetween the stop members 146 and the lingers 148. The retrogrademovement of the press bed 18 will raise the press roller 19 and move theplate 152 from its dotted line position to its full line position, asshown in FIGURES 17 and 20.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

l. In a paper feeder for a press having a reciprocating bed and arotating roller above the bed, a hopper having a bed supporting a stackof paper sheets at one end of the press bed, kicker bar slidably mountedbelow the plane of the hopper bed and extending transversely above saidhopper bed, the opposite transverse edge portions of the kicker barbeing recessed with one transverse edge portion recessed to a greaterdepth than the other recessed edge portion for feeding paper sheets ofdifferent thicknesses, means to reciprocate the kicker bar actuated bythe reciprocation of the press bed, the kicker bar being removablymounted on the reciprocating means to position the proper recessed edgeportion for engagement with the lowermost paper sheet on the hopper bed,and means to receive the lowermost paper sheet from the recessed edgeportion and move said sheet to a position to be engaged by the pressroller.

2. In a paper feeder for a press having a reciprocating bed, a rotatingroller above the press bed, air-cushion cylinders xedly spaced from theopposite ends of the reciprocatory movement of the press bed, pistonscarried by the press bed to extend into the air-cushion cylinders andcushion the reciprocatory movement of the press bed, a hopper supportinga stack of paper sheets at one end of the press bed, a kicker barslidably mounted to have movement longitudinally of the hopper andadapted to move the lowermost paper sheet from the stack, a two-way aircylinder having one end connected in air communication with theair-cushion cylinders at one end of the reciprocatory movement of thepress bed and the other end of the two-Way air cylinder connected in aircommunication with the air-cushion cylinders at the opposite end of thereciprocatory movement of the press bed, a piston operatively mounted inthe two-way air cylinder and connected to the kicker bar whereby thereciprocatory movement of the press bed reciprocates the kicker bar inthe same direction, and means to receive the lowermost paper sheet fromthe kicker bar and move said sheet to a position to be engaged by thepress roller.

3. In a paper feeder for a press having a reciprocatory bed and arotating roller above the bed, a hopper for supporting a stack of papersheets adjacent to one end of the press bed, a kicker bar slidablymounted and adapted to move the lowermost paper sheet from the stacktoward the press bed, means to reciprocate the kicker bar toward andaway from the press bed actuated by the reciprocation of the press bed,two series of continuously travelling spaced endless belts extendingfrom the hopper to the press roller, one series superposcd to the otherseries and the opposite portions of the upper series of belts beingadjustable toward and away from the lower series of belts, and means toadjust the portions of the upper series of belts adjacent to the hopperaway from the lower series of belts and adjust the portions of the upperseries of belts adjacent to the press roller toward the lower series ofbelts when the kicker bar is reciprocated toward the press bed toreceive the lowermost paper sheet from the kicker bar and feed saidsheet toward the press roller and adjust the portions of the upperseries of belts adjacent to the press roller away from the lower seriesof belts and adjust the portions of the upper series of belts adjacentthe hopper toward the lowe1 series of belts when the leading edge of thelowermost paper sheet between the series of belts approach the pressroller to facilitate engagement of the leading edge of said paper sheetby the press roller.

4. In a paper feeder as claimed in claim 3, means to continuously imparttravel to the lower series of belts, and means to transmit thecontinuous travel of the lower series of belts to the upper series ofbelts in all of the adjusted positions of the upper series of belts.

5. A paper feeder as claimed in claim 3, wherein the hopper is arrangedwith a bed extending in the plane of travel of the upper stretches ofthe lower series of belts.

6. A paper feeder as claimed in claim 3, wherein the upper and lowerstretches of both the upper and lower series of belts converge towardeach other from the hopper to the press roller. 1

7. In a paper feeder as claimed in claim 3, stop members adjustablymounted between the lower series of belts and the press roller, andmeans to adjust the stop members to extend in the line of travel of theupper stretches of the lower series of belts and position the lowermostpaper sheet relative to the press roller when the portions of the upperseries of belts adjacent the press roller are adjusted toward the lowerseries of belts and adjust the stop members out of the line of travel ofthe upper stretches of the lower series of belts when the portions ofthe upper series of belts adjacent the press roller are adjusted fromthe lower series of belts for admitting the lowermost paper sheet to beengaged by the press roller.

8. A paper feeder as claimed in claim 7, wherein the means to adjust theopposite portions of the upper series of belts and the means to adjustthe stop members comprise separate cam disks rotated at the same rate ofspeed.

9. In a paper feeder for a press having a reciprocating bed and arotating roller adjustably mounted above the press bed and moved in avertical plane toward the press bed during the forward movement of thepress bed and moved away from the press bed during the retrogrademovement of the press bed, a hopper for supporting a stack of papersheets adjacent to one end of the press bed, a kicker bar slidablymounted and adapted to move the lowermost paper sheet from the stacktoward the press bed, means to reciprocate the kicker bar toward andaway from the press bed actuated by the reciprocation of the press bed,an upper and lower series of continuously traveling spaced endless beltsextending from the hopper to the press roller to receive the lowermostpaper sheet from the kicker bar and deliver said paper sheet to thepress roller, stop members adjustably mounted between the lower seriesof belts and the press roller, means to adjust the stop members into andout of the line of travel of the upper stretches of the lower series ofbelts, a resilient nger mounted above each stop member to engage theupper face of the paper sheet resting on the stop member, a buffer platereciprocatory toward and away from one side edge of the paper sheetpositioned between the stop members and the resilient fingers toproperly adjust said paper sheet between said stop members and resilientngers, and means connected to said buffer plate and actuated by thevertical movement of the press roller to reciprocate the buffer platetoward the edge of the paper sheet during the movement of the pressroller toward the press bed and reciprocate the buifer plate away fromthe edge of the paper sheet during the movement of the press roller awayfrom the press bed.

l0. In a paper feeder for a press having a reciprocating bed and arotating roller above the bed, a hopper having a bed supporting a stackof paper sheets at one end of the press bed and arranged with slotsextending longitudinally of the hopper bed, supporting members suspendedfrom the hopper bed adjacent the opposite ends of the slots,

bearings mounted in the supporting members to extend longitudinallybelow the hopper bed, a plate slidable on the bearings in a planeparallelly spaced below the hopper bed and limited in its slidingmovementsby the supporting members, guideways mounted on the plate andeX- tended into the slots in the hopper bed and karranged with opposedanges, a kicker bar having clamping members mounted in the guideways toabut the opposed anges and adjustably connected to the kicker bar tosecure the kicker bar to the guideways in adjusted position foraccommodating different size paper sheets and the kicker bar arranged toengage the lowermost paper sheet of the stack, means connected Vto theplate and actuated by the reciprocation of the press bed to reciprocatethe plate, guideways and the kicker bar and move the lowermost sheetfrom the stack, and means traveling between the hopper and press roller:and arranged to receive the lowermost paper sheet from the kicker barand `feed said paper sheet to the press roller.

11. In a paper feeder as claimed in claim l0, -a spring connected to arear portion of the hopper bed and to the plate to ,yieldin'gly urge theplate into engagement with the supporting members adjacent the rear endsof the slots.

12. In a paper feeder `as claimed in claim 10, airvcushion cylindersxedly spaced from the opposite ends of the reciprocatory movement of thepress bed, pistons carried by the press bed to extend into theair-cushion cylinders and cushion the reciprocatory movement of thepress bed, and the means to reciprocate the plate, guideways and kickerbar comprises a two-way air cylinder suspended from the rear portion ofthe hopper bed and having the rear end portion connected in aircommunication with the air-cushion cylinders at the front end of thereciprocatory movement of the press bed and the front end portion of thetwo-way air cylinder connected in air communication with the air-cushioncylinders at the rear end of the reciprocatory movement of the pressbed, and a piston slidable in the two-way air cylinder and connected tothe plate, whereby the forward movement of the press bed actuates thekicker bar to move the lowermost sheet from the stack and the rearwardmovement of the press bed actuates the kicker bar to the rear portion ofthe stack of paper sheets.

` References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,906,529 McWhorter et kal Sept. 29, 1959

